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Famitsu recently published a preview of the 2025 edition of the Famitsu Game Hakusho – a yearly publication by Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories that compiles data on the Japanese and global game industry. The 2025 edition indicates that Japan's PC gaming population is smaller today than it was ten years ago, although the most recent year saw a slight rebound.

According to Famitsu Game Hakusho 2025, the Japanese game market grew by 3.4% between 2023 and 2024, reaching an estimated 2,396 billion yen (over $16 billion USD). The domestic gamer population (console, PC and mobile gamers aged between 5 and 59) counted an estimated 54.7 million people – a slight decrease compared to the previous year's 55.5 million.

A breakdown by platform shows that the majority of Japanese gamers were mobile users (42.77 million people), followed by console users (29.51 million) and lastly, PC users (14.52 million). These figures are not mutually exclusive, as many users play on more than one platform.

While the number of active PC gamers increased slightly in 2024 compared to the previous year's 14.45 million, this remains well below figures from 2015. As annual figures from the Famitsu Game Hakusho 2015 indicate, console and mobile gamers in Japan have increased in the past ten years (26.12 million → 29.51 million: 14.11 million → 42.77 million people respectively), while PC gamers have decreased by 3 million (17.49 million →14.52 million).

While there have been fluctuations in between, no year succeeding 2015 saw the PC population exceed 17.49 million again (for the record, the figure in 2014 was even higher at 20.37 million). The reasons for this long-term shift are not clear-cut. While PC gaming's visibility in Japan has undoubtedly grown through the rise of Steam, other factors, such as the popularity of mobile gaming, may be influencing player preferences.

Hardware pricing could also play a role, though the timing does not align perfectly with the decade-long decline. As reported by The Nikkei in June 2025, prices of pre-built desktop PCs in Japan have risen by 40% in the past six years, while some individual PC components have more than tripled in price over the same period.

Moreover, as reported by Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) announced in January 2024 that the number of domestic PC shipments throughout 2023 was 6.667 million units, a 2.9% decrease compared to the previous year. This was the third consecutive year of declining PC sales, and the lowest figure since 2007 (when JEITA started recording data). It is worth noting that 2024 saw a spike in PC sales (8.3 million units), but JEITA considers this to be a result of companies and government agencies replacing PCs ahead of the scheduled end of support for Windows 10 this year. On the other hand, the organization predicted that, with components growing more sophisticated, PC prices are unlikely to fall, which means they will continue to be far more inaccessible to Japanese gamers compared to modern-gen consoles.

Japan’s PC gaming population has decreased by 3 million in the past decade, studies suggest - AUTOMATON WEST

According to Famitsu Game Hakusho 2025, Japan's active PC gamer population is smaller today than it was ten years ago.

automaton-media.com

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

What is their fertility rate?

 

[TintoConCasera]

What is their fertility rate?

What's yours?

Mine is 0.

 

[Unknown?]

Of course, it aligns with them preferring portability.

 

[yogaflame]

PCMR dying in Japan.

 

[PlayStaytion]

What is their fertility rate?

Solitude doesn't work for everyone, I understand when a hobby is associated with being surrounded with your family and friends.

 

[Fabieter]

Yeah makes considering switch came early 2017.

 

[bad guy]

You'd think the Syeam Deck handheld PC would have helped, but it's probably too big, Japanese like their stuff compact.

 

[Zathalus]

And yet CESA reported massive growth - https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/

So did Newzoo - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/insights-into-the-japanese-gaming-market-in-2025

Analysts, different picture entirely depending on who you use.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

The ready availability of hentai makes gaming little more than a distraction.

 

[nial]

Yeah makes considering switch came early 2017.

2017 was not a decade ago.

 

[LordOcidax]

That doesn't make too much sense…

 

[Gonzito]

Japan’s PC gaming population has decreased by 3 million in the past decade, studies suggest - AUTOMATON WEST

According to Famitsu Game Hakusho 2025, Japan's active PC gamer population is smaller today than it was ten years ago.

automaton-media.com

 

[Arsic]

The ready availability of hentai makes gaming little more than a distraction.

Gooners have priorities.

 

[Sentenza]

And yet CESA reported massive growth - https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/

So did Newzoo - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/insights-into-the-japanese-gaming-market-in-2025

Analysts, different picture entirely depending on who you use.

Yep. No idea where those guys in the OP are pulling this data from, given that not only it's the fourth year in a row that we read of a growing PC gaming market in Japan, but like a litmus test the percentage of Steam users from Japan keeps growing steadily since 2020.

 

[Deerock71]

 

[PeteBull]

What is their fertility rate?

Just checked , official data, 1,2 in 2023, 1,37 in 2024, 1,38 in 2025, so bit higher than their bottom but still quite terrible below 2,1 which is required to sustain population.
Population number 2014= 127,2m, 2024=123,8m so they lost 3,4m ppl in last decade(those 3,4m were likely mostly senior citizens so doubt any significant %age of them were pc players, especially with japans avg lifespan 85,1).

Funny thing about japans population decline is, if u take data from 1941(71.7m) to 1947(78,1m) - they gained 6,4m ppl in that time-it shows even totally lost ww2 and 2 atomic presents from the US was less nasty for the nation as a whole compared to current/future superlow birthrate- feminism is a wonderful thing
OH and stable longterm marriage/nuclear family, forget about that shit in current day japan, thing of the past:

Demographics of Japan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Funny thing about japans population decline is, if u take data from 1941(71.7m) to 1947(78,1m) - they gained 6,4m ppl in that time-it shows even totally lost ww2 and 2 atomic presents from the US was less nasty for the nation as a whole compared to current/future superlow birthrate- feminism is a wonderful thing

I was under the impression that the western notion of feminism is nonexistent in Japan and that westerners tend to misinterpret their gender roles through the glasses of western ideology.

 

[Buggy Loop]

All metrics shown in recent years with also steam tracking says the opposite

Japan’s PC Gaming Market Size Triples In 4 Years – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan

www.serkantoto.com

 

[RoboCain]

They knew that the adult games ban was coming /s

 

[Shifty1897]

Japan and South Korea are soon going to have to take even more drastic measures to bump up their population.

Either you pay out nuclear families well for having babies or you allow mass immigration. Japan would do the former before they would ever allow the latter.

 

[Kacho]

Not sure I buy that. We recently had data suggesting growth.

 

[Gaiff]

I have a really hard time believing this considering how much smaller the PC gaming population was worldwide 10 years ago.

 

[calico]

PC bros we're being replaced

 

[PeteBull]

I was under the impression that the western notion of feminism is nonexistent in Japan and that westerners tend to misinterpret their gender roles through the glasses of western ideology.

Japanese women(and men too) tend to be extremly hidden in their expressions, but data is data, if u playfully ask any asian foreign exchange female students(not just japan, korea, china, taiwan and most other smaller countries too) it turns out japanese wifes dont even bow to their husbands anymore, she will bow to her boss in a corpo/parents/elders, but a husband- fk that shit, she thinks she is above him and u dont bow down to ur subordinate

See how there was no "husband bow" type? Coz its not a thing anymore, japanese wife will bow to her corpo clients/customers in store instead, but u, ur supposed provider and protector who she is supposed to love, respect and admire?

 

[LordOcidax]

All metrics shown in recent years with also steam tracking says the opposite

Japan’s PC Gaming Market Size Triples In 4 Years – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan

www.serkantoto.com

Exactly.

 

[delishcaek]

Writer of the article knows what they're doing.
Instead of saying that PC gaming had a weird peak in 2015 (for whatever reasons), they're saying it shrunk.

While technically correct, the PC market over there has been incredibly stable for the past decade. 14-16m every friggin year with spending only pointing upwards.

It's like saying "PlayStations gaming population shrunk by 40m over the past 20 years" because they peaked with PS2 back then.

 

[bender]

 

[chromatic9]

Can't recall much being said about PC gaming back in Japan in 2014 being 20 million or what kind of context was it based on, could it be like laptops with basic games. Are we talking about nvidia AMD gaming machines in 2014, seems like that kind of gaming has grown more recently.

Having said that, around the world PC gaming had a huge boost in 2011 onwards with the i5 2500k (feels like yesterday to me) and affordable graphic cards that swapped dated consoles. System building got easier and drew in the console crowds so maybe that grew in Japan at that time. AMD nvidia could shed some light on what they sold in Japan back then?

 

[Xyphie]

Usage of Japanese on Steam should track quite well with Japanese users (Very low number of L2 speakers and low English skills).

Steam HW Survey July 2015:
Japanese - 0.85%

Steam HW Survey July 2025:
Japanese - 2.56%

So Japanese users on Steam has grown over time as a share of the total (which has also grown over time).

 

[Crayon]

Last I was there, there was a great retail presence, but gpu prices were crazy high for them with the exchange rate.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I think they all moved to PS5 Pro

 

[cormack12]

They all got banned.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Usage of Japanese on Steam should track quite well with Japanese users (Very low number of L2 speakers and low English skills).

Steam HW Survey July 2015:
Japanese - 0.85%

Steam HW Survey July 2025:
Japanese - 2.56%

So Japanese users on Steam has grown over time as a share of the total (which has also grown over time).

It's just the phone app. /s

 

[Felessan]

And yet CESA reported massive growth - https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/
So did Newzoo - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/insights-into-the-japanese-gaming-market-in-2025
Analysts, different picture entirely depending on who you use.

Different metrics - (revenue vs population) and different time periods (10 years vs 4-5 years).
What basically happens - with rise of mobile around 2012 PC SP gamers went out, as is most of others besides Nintendo (and Nintendo held on back of Mario/Pokemon/Zelda/AC, other games keep dying), starting from 2020 gacha gamers went in and PC gacha gamers are heaviest spenders. Tripling revenue on back of Genshin/HSR is very understandable (Japan is second biggest market for chinese gacha and they earn a lot there).

PS. And Famitsu of course is most reliable of them all as they have access to the largest set of data.

 

[Zathalus]

Different metrics - (revenue vs population) and different time periods (10 years vs 4-5 years).
What basically happens - with rise of mobile around 2012 PC SP gamers went out, as is most of others besides Nintendo (and Nintendo held on back of Mario/Pokemon/Zelda/AC, other games keep dying), starting from 2020 gacha gamers went in and PC gacha gamers are heaviest spenders. Tripling revenue on back of Genshin/HSR is very understandable (Japan is second biggest market for chinese gacha and they earn a lot there).

PS. And Famitsu of course is most reliable of them all as they have access to the largest set of data.

I doubt Famitsu is more accurate than CESA. They also runs the Tokyo Game Show and CEDEC. The Chairman is the president of Capcom.

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

Japan is a country of good taste, they know PCs are for work.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Clickbait shit.

 

[Parazels]

Good news. Things should be used as intended:

• gaming consoles for gaming;
• personal calculators for calculations.

 

[Three]

And yet CESA reported massive growth - https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/

So did Newzoo - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/insights-into-the-japanese-gaming-market-in-2025

Analysts, different picture entirely depending on who you use.

You can generate more revenue even with a declining playerbase. These are not the same thing as this report regarding playerbase.

 

[Zathalus]

Actually, even the Famitsu report shows a large growth in revenue. The rise in Steam users (~14x over the past 10 years in Japan) plus the staggering revenue growth would seem to indicate the core/hardcore user base is growing while the social and casual users bled off, very likely to mobile and linked to the decline of PC browser games.

 

[Self_Destructive]

More like PC market shrunk a bit in Japan, but PC gaming is doing better than ever.

These things are always conflated.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Famitsu must be missing those browser games.

 

[adamsapple]

And yet CESA reported massive growth - https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/

So did Newzoo - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/insights-into-the-japanese-gaming-market-in-2025

Analysts, different picture entirely depending on who you use.

Triple the market size with 3 million less users.

 

[Nocty]

I mean.. who is surprised. The gap between graphics on PC and Consoles closed long ago. Why buy a £3,000 gpu when you can buy a £3-400 console and barely notice the difference?

 

[ecosse_011172]

It's inevitable , if your population is decreasing by almost 1% every year , getting much older and there is pretty much no chance of it being reversed then the market must contract.

 

[lh032]

not surprising, PCMR still think PC gaming is "growing" in Japan lmao.

And most japanese play freemium games, they dont buy games on PC unless the specific ones.

How the f does PC gaming "grows" while its way larger than a normal console, and crazy ass GPU prices xD

 

[Zathalus]

I mean.. who is surprised. The gap between graphics on PC and Consoles closed long ago. Why buy a £3,000 gpu when you can buy a £3-400 console and barely notice the difference?

Wuchang just came out and the difference can be pretty dang obvious. But even if it wasn't, graphical differences (or buying a £3,000 GPU or even a £3,000 PC) has never been the main or only draw of PC gaming.

 

[Durin]

Just curious, one of the few reasons to play on PC in Japan over consoles is access to visual novel games consoles don't allow. Have tablets and smartphones made any in-roads to those markets over time?

 

[Larxia]

That sounds a bit surprising to me because I thought it was the opposite, that it increased compared to the past where it was almost non existent. With all the japanese studios now porting games to PC etc... which didn't use to be a thing before.